Women and Fashions of the Victorian Era: From Hoop Skirts to Bustles - 1837 - 1900
Victorian Clothing - Prim and Proper Yet Outrageous Styles
Despite the prim and proper feminine ideal of the day, fashions of the Victorian period created an often exaggerated, ostentatious look. Tight corsets, gigantic hoop-skirts, and outrageous bustles make today's fashion trends look sedate by comparison.
Clothing styles were dictated by propriety, and stylish garments were a sign of respectability. The copious amounts of fabric used in the creation of Victorian skirts usually meant that most women owned few outfits. Detachable collars and cuffs enabled a woman to change the look of a garment for a bit of variety. Of course, wealthier women owned more garments made of finer fabrics using more material and embellishments.
Victorian Riding Habit Circa 1847
The Victorian Period in Fashion - Historical Background
The Victorian period, generally the time between 1837 and the 1890's, is named after Britain's Queen Victoria, a long lived and highly influential monarch in an era when women had little power or opportunity.
In those days, women lived at the largess of men - first their fathers or guardians, then their husbands. A young lady was expected to be meek and mild, to acquiesce to her father's or husband's wishes. A woman's intelligence and wit were restricted to social events and amusing conversation.
Employment opportunities were limited to teaching young girls, being a governess, domestic servitude, and later to factory or mill work. Of course, rural women had plenty of work if they lived on a farm. Some women earned money from cottage industries but the the Industrial Revolution put an end to enterprises such as weaving cloth at home.
The Industrial Revolution created new wealth for investors, industrialists, and merchants and introduced a new middle class who, proud of their status, displayed their wealth with great ostentation. Women wore their status in fabric and lots of it from the mid century hoop skirts to the later bustle in the beautiful dresses and styles of the Victorian period.
The Industrial Revolution created a new urbanization as towns and cities filled with workers for the new mills and factories where women worked long hours in grim, dirty, and often dangerous conditions.
Queen Victoria 1845
Early Victorian Fashion
1836 ushered in a new change from the Romantic style of dress. Large Gignot sleeves suddenly slimmed and a seam line dropped the shoulder of dresses. A tight fitting bodice was boned and slanted to emphasize the waist. Cartridge pleats at the waist created volume in the skirt without adding bulk to the waist.
Women of a higher social class were expected to be demure and indolent as reflected by the restrictive dropped shoulder lines and corsets.
Dresses in soft colors could be refreshed with detachable white collars and cuffs.
In the 1840's, extra flounces were added to skirts and women wore a short over-skirt in day dressing. Skirts widened as the hour glass silhouette became the popular look, and women took to wearing layers of petticoats. Bodices took on a V shape and the shoulder dropped more.
Evening wear exposed the shoulders and neckline and corsets lost their shoulder straps. Sleeves of ball gowns were usually short.
Although women wore what we call dresses, many of these costumes were actually a separate bodice and skirt.
Three quarter length sleeves lasted through most of the Victorian period and some sleeves began to sprout bell shaped ruffles.
For most of the 19th century, bonnets were the headgear of choice, in styles that varied from plain to heavily ornamented.
Victorian Hair and Make Up
Women's hair was generally worn long, caught up in a chignon or bun. In the 1840's, ringlets of curls hung on either side of the head. In the 1870's, women drew up the side hair but let it hang in long, loose curls in back.
Crimping became popular in the early 1870's.
Throughout the Victorian period, women wore false hair pieces and extensions as well as artificial flowers such as velvet pansies and roses, false leaves, and beaded butterflies often combined into intricate and beautiful headpieces.
Make up was mostly worn by theater people. The look for women in Victorian days was very pale skin occasionally highlighted with a smidge of rouge on the cheeks.
Late Victorian Corset
The Victorian Corset
A corset is an undergarment set with strips of whale bone (actually whale baleen), later replaced by steel.
Though criticized as unhealthy, and certainly uncomfortable, corsets ruled fashion trends throughout the 19th century granting women social status, respectability, and the idealized figure of youth.
Often called 'stays,' from the French 'estayer,' meaning support, corsets were thought to provide support to women, the weaker sex.
Critics, including some health professionals, believed that corsets caused cancer, anemia, birth defects, miscarriages, and damage to internal organs. The tight restriction of the body did deplete lung capacity and caused fainting.
The popular concept of an obsession with a tiny waist is probably exaggerated. The competition of cinch in to improbable dimensions was more of a fetish or a fad and not the norm as depicted in the 1939 film, Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett O'Hara cinches her corset to a 17" waist.
Victorian Ruffled Skirts Circa1853
Victorian Crinoline Skirts
Victorian Style Crinoline Cage
Mid-Victorian Crinolines and Hoop Skirts
In the 1850's, the dome shaped skirt switched to tapered skirts that flared at the waist. The new hour glass figure grew to exaggerated proportions.
Layers of petticoats were suddenly not enough and the crinoline was introduced to add volume to skirts. Crinoline was a heavy, stiff fabric made of woven horse hair that was expensive, and impossible to clean.
In the 1850's, a cage like affair replaced the multi-layered petticoats. Called hoop-skirts, cage crinolines, or cages, they were light weight, economical and more comfortable than the heavy crinolines.
Cage crinolines which produced the huge, volumnous skirts so often associated with mid-century Victorian fashion, were made of flexible sprung steel rings suspended from fabric tape.
The look was so popular and economical that lower middle class women, maids, and factory girls sported the style. Cheaper hoop skirts included a dozen hoops while the high priced variety featured 20 - 40 hoops for a smoother line.
The hoop industry grew large and two New York factories produced 3,000 to 4,000 hoop cages a day, employiing thousands of workers.
Early versions of hoop skirts reached the floor, but hemlines rose in the 1860's.
Sleeves were often tight at the top, opening at the bottom in a bell-like shape.
Victorian Costume - 1860's Hoop Skirts
Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1865
Victorian Fashion - the Aesthetic Movement in Dress 1862
The Sewing Machine and Victorian Technology
The mass production of sewing machines in the 1850's as well as the advent of synthetic dyes introduced major changes in fashion. Previously, clothing was hand sewn using natural dyes.
Other new development included the introduction of the sized paper pattern as well as machines that could slice several pattern pieces at once. Clothing could now be produced quickly and cheaply.
In 1860, Charles Worth, a clothing designer in Paris, France, created costumes worm by the French Empress Eugenie, Empress Elizabeth of Austria, and Queen Victoria. Worth became so influential tha the is known as the Father of Haute Couture (high fashion), a trend steer who introduced new fashion ideals.
In 1864, Worth introduced an over-skirt that was lifted and held back by buttons and tabs. By 1868, the over-skirt was drawn back a dn looped, creating fullness and drapery at the rear.
Meanwhile, certain fashion mavens felt that the over ornamentation had gone too far. The New Princess Line was a simple form of dress, cut in one piece of joined panels, fitted from shoulder to hem. The Gabriel Princess dress produced a slim silhouette in plain or muted colors with a small white collar and a full, though greatly diminished skirt. Picture film versions of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for an idea of that look, giving women a more tailored appearance.
The Bloomer Costume, named after feminist Amelia Bloomer, featured a full, short skirt worn over wide trousers for ease of movement. The style did not go over and was often ridiculed in the press.
Followers of the Aesthetic movement despised the Industrial Revolution, exaggerated fashions, and the use of the new synthetic dyes that produced sometimes lurid colors, and color combinations. These intellectuals, artists, and literary folk longed for a simpler life and the costumes that reflected the life-style.
Garments were loose and unstructured, used soft colors created with natural dyes, embellished by hand embroidery featuring motifs drawn from nature.
Victorian - Brady Photograph of Women and Child circa 1862
Victorian 1888 Dress With Bustle
Victorian Fashion Circa 1874 - Rear Fullness Due to Bustle
Late Victorian - The Bustle
A bustle is a pad that emphasises the posterior. Used in the late 1700's when swagged up skirts made a large rear end fashionable, they eventually became the prime focus of fashion. By the late 1820's, rear pads were called bustles.
1868 saw a fullness appear at the back of the skirt. The ideal female form featured narrow, slope shoulders, wide hips, and a tiny waist.
Held on with a buckled waistband, the bustle was a rectangular or crescent shaped pad made of horse hair or down filled woven wire mesh.
By 1867, Worth's over-skirt caught on and combined with a bustle created an entirely new look.
In 1870, ball gowns featured trains and by 1873, trains showed up in day dresses. Trains were a short lived style, however, as they quickly became soiled dragging along city streets.
1875 saw skirts slimmed down with the skirt low and close to the body, often, but not always, with a bustle.
The bustle came back in a big way in the 1880's creating a huge, shelf like protrusion at the rear. But the ludicrous style fell out of favor and by 1887, was greatly reduced in size. The 1890's saw some fullness at the rear, but the bustle was on its way out.
Women's fashions took on a more tailored look with the introduction of the cuirasse bodice in 1878. The stiff, corset like garment dipped down in front and back and eventually reached the upper thighs.
The Edwardian Era
Age Queen Victoria aged, fashionable heads turned toward her son Edward, the Prince of Wales. The combination of his lust for a hedonistic life-style and the women's emancipation movement changed the look of fashion for women.
Queen Victoria died in 1901, but changes come gradually and the eras over-laped.
The major change in the new Edwardian style was the end of the corset and the introduction of the new 'health corset' with an S bend look.
For information on Edwardian fashion,check out the link below:
Edwardian Costume - The Next Big Thing
- Fashion History - Edwardian Fashion Designs of Late 1890's - 1914 With Pictures
Edwardian fashion refers to the clothing worn in the early 20th century and features an elegant, mature look for women, created around the S curve with its monobosom and a new long line.
Victorian Syle 1880
Victorian Costume - 1880's Fashion Plate
Victorian Style - 1880's
Victorian Fashion Circa 1889
A Beatufil Montage of Victorian Fashion
How to Put on a Corset (Good Luck with That)
Books consulted:
Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell; Greenwood Press
Costume and Styles : The Evolution of Fashion From Early Egypt to the Present by Henny Harald Hansen; E. P. Dutton & Co.
Encyclopedia of Clothing & Fashion, edited by Valerie Steele; Scribner Library
Images thanks to wikimedia commons.
So what did Victorian women wear to the beach?
- Swimsuit - the History of Swimwear for Women
Beach holidays became quite popular in the 19th century. For fashion tips on what to wear swimming Victorian style, read this!
History of Corsets
- History Of Womens Corsets
The corset was considered a great asset to make women more attractive and curvaceous. Yet it was a torturous contraption that often caused women to faint and possibly deform their bodies. No wonder establishments and homes often provided a “fainting
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Early Victorian Writer Charlotte Bronte Spoke Up on Women's Social Issues
- Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre - Social Conscience and Feminism in Victorian Literature - A Short Bi
Charlotte Bronte was an early Victorian writer who defied the commonly held perceptions of what femininity meant in popular society. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte focuses on social injustice for poor women and girls of the time.
Early Victorian Female Writer - Emily Bronte
- Emily Bronte - the Female Victorian Writer Who Wrote Wuthering Heights
Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights, a novel that was exceptional in its time, centering on topics and behaviors usually ignored by Victorian writers. Themes of passionate obsession, alcoholism, and abuse shocked readers of the day.
Flow Blue - A Popular Dishware of Victorian Times
- Flow Blue - How to ID and Value the Collectible Blue and White Antique China
Flow Blue was a popular dishware of Victorian times. The blue and white transferware patterns of muted, hazy designs are popular collectibles to this day.
Clothing of the Early Middle Ages
- Fashion History - Clothinig of the Early Middle Ages - Dark Ages 400 - 900 CE
The Early Middle Ages, also known as the Dark Ages, or medieval times, refers to that period in European history after the fall of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire fell in 400 CE (or AD) , the once...
Medieval Fashion - Clothing of the High and Late Middle Ages
- Fashion History of the High and Late Middle Ages - Clothing of the 11th - 15th Century
In the High and Late Middle Ages, European clothing began to evolve into what we think of today as fashion. The cut, shape, and decoration of clothing changed at a much faster pace than in the Early Middle...
Renaissance Costume - Elizabethan Fashion
Regency Fashions - Early 1800's
- Fashion History - Early 19th Century Regency and Romantic Styles
Fashion design of the early 19th century is called Regency style, named for Britain's George Prince Regent who ran the country when his father, King George III became mentally ill and unable to perform his...
Bohemian Style
- Boho - The Fashion History of Bohemian Style
A fashion history of bohemian style and its influence on hippie style and modern boho chic. For 200 years, bohemian style has been the fashion for artists and intellectuals who embrace an alternative, nonmaterialistic life style
Women's Fashions of the World War I Era - 1914 - 1920
- Women and Fashions of the World War I Era - Clothing of 1914 - 1920
Women's fashions of 1914 - 1920 were heavily influenced by World War I, or the Great War, as well as the women's suffrage movement. By 1914, women's clothing had lost the rigid, tailored lines of the...
Women's Fashions of the 1920's - Flappers and the Jazz Age
- Women's Fashions of the 1920's - Flappers and the Jazz Age
Women's fashions of the 1920's are a large part of the Jazz Age identity. New technology and the end of the horrors brought about by World War I and the Flu Pandemic of 1918 gave rise to a youthful exuberance...
Comments
I loved this! I loved the information and the pictures. I have many patterns that are of these dresses but have never opened any of them. Keep on writing about the erasand the fasions. In high school I used to draw dresses and fashion in art class and everyone thought that I was going to be a fashion designer. I wouldn't cut it in today's world. I would love to see the bell shaped dresses come back--if for just one winter season or as gowns.
God those corsets must have been painful. Wonderful Hub.
What an interesting read !!! Thanks!!!
Love your Hubs about fashion history! It is interesting to see the evolution of fashion within a particular period of time. Fashion, along with architecture and home design railed against the excesses of the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution. Thanks for your insightful article!
Great hub. I love reading about the fashion trends of the 19th century. The illustrations you choose are particularly apt and colourful. Congratulations on the work you put into this hub.
Hi, Frieda! I should add a list of the layers of undergarments these poor ladies had to wear. It must have been expensive to buy all that stuff. And lots of those dresses could not be cleaned, so after a few wearings, you had to toss them out! Thanks!
Lady - not too long ago I found some of my old fashion sketches and they were not too bad. When you say that you own some patterns, are they the original old ones? Holy moly! They must be something! I would never open them but have them appraised. Thanks!
Susie - the corsets must have been most horrible in summer. I remember being in the 9th grade and seeing young girls wearing girdles and thinking they were crazy! Thanks!
Carolina - thank you!
Linda - I really love the Aesthetic Movement and remember seeing some old paintings of people dressed in that soft, romantic style. So beautiful and comfortable. Thanks!
chspublish - I could have gone crazy with the pictures. As they are all so old, they are out of copyright so there are tons of them available. Thanks!
No I got the patterns that were costume patterns when JoAnnes were running them for $1.00 each. That was several years ago.
I absolutely love this hub! Just before I joined HubPages, I was reading how women from the Victorian Era, collected their hair from their combs and brushes and saved them in what's called a Hair Keeper. I've actually seen these before, but didn't know what they were....anyway, once they collected enough hair they'd use it to add to their own hair as extensions or to add height.
I am fascinated by this kind of history.
Lady - I bet they use tons of fabric, but it would be a lot of fun to create a beautiful Victorian dress!
imatellmuva - Ugh! They also used to cut the hair from dead loved ones and use it to make jewelry with the woven hair. Oh well, waste not want not, haha. Thanks for stopping by!
Oh this is beautiful. I love the art you've included. I collect Victorian Art, I have beautiful paintings much like the art you've shared here today. I also have paintings of dress paterns, I'm sure you know all about this practice. I found your fashion history of Victorian Costume and Design beautiful and enjoyed this very much. Thanks for the detailed research. Katie :)
As much as I love to read Victorian novels and about the period, I can't imagine myself in any of these clothes....I have a feeling it would be like putting Lucy in them!
Wonderfully done as always and love the corset - can you imagine? I guess it would keep one from overeating!
Katie - thank you! I love all things Victoria myself and though the look is passe, my living room is chock full of Victorian furniture, paintings, and other stuff.
Audrey - hi! Oh, I love Victorian novels too, especially the Brontes and wrote several hubs about them too. As far as the clothing - beautiful yes, but I would go for the Aesthetic movement, those outfits are cool. Thanks!
I found this article very interesting. I have always been fascinated with this period of fashion as it was so much fun to draw.
bayoulady - oh yes, those beautiful clothing styles would be fun to draw, the drapery of fabric, the interesting silhouette... glad you enjoyed the hub.
great work Dolores. Loved the pictures, but I shudder just thinking about the corsets! I can understand now why so many houses had such huge double doors, so the ladies didn't have to go inside sideways!
Hi, Duchess! The corsets were only part of the huge ensemble of undergarments. I could do a whole hub on Victorian underwear. They wore tons of it! Thanks!
Great hub, interesting facts
Juana - thank you!
another excellent article...I admire your research skills and your inability to get bogged down with all that information and the way you string it into a highy enjoyable informative read..many thanks
bonny - thank you so much! You are very kind. Believe me when I say that it ain't easy. I could go all over the place with these fashion hubs. Reading up on the clothing of a period draws you into the history of that particular time and it's hard not to inject a ton of that, as well as personal opinion.
Dolores, you are just a wealth of interesting fashion history knowledge! wow...I am in love with that picture of the woman and her daughter (in the middle of your hub). How beautifully haunting is that picture?
Back to your hub, I absolutely enjoy reading your fashion history hubs...and you write them so intelligently.
The fashion of the Victorian era was so prim and proper and constricting, but I think I will forever wish that corsets were back in style! I also love the hairstyles they wore...the ringlets and buns, especially.
kitty - thank you so much. Yes, I agree. The Matthew Brady photo is haunting, those people have been gone so long, yet here we are, admiring them all these years later.
Victorian fashions were so extravagant and beautiful but I could not stand the tight corsets.
i've always love victorian fashion, well, less the corsets to blend in for today's world. nice hub!
Fantastic hub info. I love victorian fashion. Love to see lady ware this fashion.. Always see the movie in victorian fashion custom that I like
Laine - thank you - glad that you enjoyed!
vnustham - Victorian fashions were beautiful if a bit much. I also love the Victorian houses and interiors. Thank you!
I really enjoyed your article,its worth reading.
Excellent hub. Great fashion!
The article is amazing. Good Job.
psh i still wear those kind of clothes
happy - still? Have you been wearing them for the past 120 years? Haha! You must look quite fetching!
I love to read about the Victorian era. I'm glad that I stumbled upon your hub and your great article. I enjoyed reading this.
Thanks!
SannelL - thank you! I read your hub on hosting a tea party - a real Victorian style event.
I enjoyed reading your hub very much. Loved the Victorian age - fashion and architecture. Oh boy, can't imagine women wearing those corsets during hot summer days and how long it would take to take them off!
Beautiful article. I love how the woman dressed back then so lady like, these day's you find woman dressed like slobs and sometimes you can't tell if it's a man or a woman. I would of loved to been around in the olden times. I voted your hub up and look forward to reading more. Thanks for bringing us back in time..
happy - yes, I love Victorian architecture as well. The Victorian style is so ornate, yet the clothing looks so uncomfortable. The whole Victorian scene fascinates me - the dishware, the furniture, the whole thing. Thank you.
GlstngRose - thank you. I sure love those Victorian styles. They really did celebrate femininity. But the discomfort level would be too much for me. But you are so right that we all look a bit sloppy in comparison.
oh I enjoyed this so much. I forgot about eh makeup part-- that most often they didn't wear any, but thanks for the reminder. This is as always one awesome hub!
Would like to say something about the dresses I used to do reenactments and made my own dresses I liked the era of the 1870's with the bustle.There is lot taht goes to these dresses
Hi, Rebecca - who needs makeup when you've got all that stuff on? Course you could always pinch your cheeks! Thank you!
sara - well respect was what they were aiming for! Thank you!
Peggy - I can't imagine making one of these dresses! But it would be a wonderful project. Wondering if you made them for Civil War reenactments too - which would be more mid century. It takes a lot of fabric to create one of those midcentury dresses. And though I think the bustle is kind of ridiculous, the women do look beautiful. Thank you!
Those corsets must have been pretty harsh. Can't imagine that they will leave your internal organs in tact.
Voted up!
style of life - thank you! I remember when I was little and girls wore those stiff dresses. I would complain and my mother used to say, "beauty must suffer." Can't imagine the torture of corsets, though.
The women of these era's would be horrified to see how scruffy a lot of people dress these days . They used to dress so elegantly back then . It would be awful wearing so much in the hot Australian summer tho. Love your hub = photos.
freecamping - you can say that again. I can't imagine how those women felt in summer without air conditioning. And the slobby manner in which people dress today is kind of amazing. But I am often guilty of that myself. I write all these historic fashion hubs and here I sit in old sneakers and jeans. Better than the days when everyone wore sweat suits - that was awful.
This was an excellent article. I appreciate your detail about the styles and the photos that went with them. As someone who loves the history of costume I enjoyed your article.
The Victorian fashion period was so elegant and beautiful. The clothes had a read touch of class.
very detailed hub and nice pictures! it would be great to wear those dress for a day - just a day... then return back to jeans and shirt :D
Wr1t3r - thank you very much.
cannapro - I do love the Victorian era, the clothes, the literature, the architecture, and interior design. And the dishware. Thanks!
munchwaffle - oh stop. I went from here to your profile, read one of your hubs, now I can't stop thinking about waffles. I've sworn off waffles - they are dangerous to my physique.
I often think of the discomfort of those times. I think I'd go for the Aesthetic look. They seem downright comfty as well as beautiful.
What a brilliant hub ,thank you for sharing.
Take care and enjoy your weekend.
Eddy.
Hi, Eddy - thank you so much! Have a wonderful Christmas!
I am dressing up as a late 1890's Victorian Vampire
on a 3D chat program. my first buy is a daek red Victorian Room. plus the the long black dress /hairstyle
furniture to add to my new room. it will be wonderful to
greet my chat guests in true victorian fashion And suroundings!.
dominique - I checked out your blog on 18th century costume and it was very nice. So you are into 19th century too? Cool! I love the idea of the Victorian room in dark red. I used to go to a hotel bar that was set up like a Victorian parlor. It was so pretty! Thanks for stopping by!
Pssst, if u didn't know the pic in of the woman and her daughter is a photo of Rose Greenhow and her daughter Rosie, nick-named little Rose in the old capitol prison in Washington D.C.
Rose was a Confederate spy who helped them win the first battle of Bull Run. She was very good at her work and used tapestry stichings to give Union info to the South.
She was discovered by Allan Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective agency and went under house arrest. Later one of her tapestries were discovered and she went to prison with her little daughter going to.
After her trial that spring she was deported to Richmond and was greeted by Jefferson Davis. Then she went to Europe, hoping to escape the harsh memories of the Civil War.
On her way back, she boarded her ship called the Condor but when they were outside of Cape Fear North Carolina, a Union vessel stranded them on a sandbank. Rose asked the captian for a life boat, and, because there was a terrible storm, the life boat overturned and she drowned
Oh yeah! I forgot! They buried Rose in Wilmington, North Carolina and still is considered a southern hero.
Kitkat - thank you for providing the information on Rose. I knew that she was a Confederate spy but did not recall the whole story. The image itself is quite poignant even if you don't know the story, don't you think? We look at so many of these old photos - having the background story really fills it out.
Thank you very much!! I appreciate that nice comment!!!!! P.S I HATE HOW THOSE CORSETS FEE!!!!!!!
Fell...Sorry for the typo
Feel!!!! Sorry again!
This is a great place to halt and get some historic overview on women fashion in ancient times. I can only Say WOW!!!
Frieda Babbley 16 months ago
Fantastic! Wow a lot of work went into this. Great info. I had no idea that bloomers were named after Amelia Bloomer; very interesting. As for the corset, I don't for the life of me know how they could do it. Imagine all those strings. Imagine the suffocation! Enjoyed this article immensely. Thanks Dolores.